
DDDDtil3Tb7A 



Necessities of the War and the Conditions of Success 


1 

in it. 




A SERMON 




Preached in 


the Village Church, before the College and the united 
Congregations of the town of Amherst, Mass., 




ON THE NATIONAL FAST DAY, 










BY 


REV. WM. A STEARNS, E). 

President of A-inlitsr^t CoHese. 


E. 




AMH-ERST, MASS. : 

HENRY A. MAESH, PUBLISHER. 

1861. 





Necessities of the War and the Conditions of Success in it. 



A SERMON 



Preached in the Village Ohui'ch, before the College and the united 
Congregations of the town of Amherst, Mass., 



ON THE NATIONAL FAST DAY, 



THXJPtSDA-Y, «EI»TEM:BEIt S6, ISeX. 



BY REV. WM. A STEARNS, D. D. 

't 

I*resld.«nt of u%.mli«;rst Oollese. 



SECOND EDITION. — FOR THE COLLEGE. 



AMSERST, MASS. : 
HENRY A. MARSH, PUBLISHER 

1861. 



J 



Rev. Dr. Steakxs : 

Dear Sir : — At a recent meeting of the Students of College, it waa 
voted to request for publication, a copy of the Discourse preached by you on the 
occasion of our late National Fast. 

The candor, earnestness, and eminent patriotism which characterized your 
Discourse, led us to make this request. 

Verv respectfully yours, 

M.FAYETTE DICKINSON, ;> 

E. HUGHITT, ( ^ 

F. G. Mcdonald, > Committee. 
J. S. RUNNELLS, _) 

Amherst College, Oct. I7th, 1861. 



To Messrs. M. Fayette Dickinson, E. Hughitt, F. G. McDonald, and J. S. 

RUNNELLS : 

Gentlemen : I am pleased that you think well of the discourse preached 
"on the occasion of the late National Fast," and cheerfully comply with your 
wishes respecting it. After its publication, in the " Springfield Republican," and 
the "Hampshire and Franklin Express," at the earnest request of some gentlemen 
who thought a more extended circulation of it desirable, an edition was printed in 
pamphlet form, and has just come from the press. Herewith, I send you a copy 
of this last issue, and you are at liberty to publish the same in any way that is 
most agreeable to you. 

Respectfully and cordially, 
I am, gentlemen, 
Your ob't serv't, 

W. A. STEARNS. 
Amherst College, Oct. 18th, 1861. 



SERMOISr. 



II. Chronicles, 14th: 11. — "Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with 
many, or with them that have no power; help us, Lord our God; for we rest 
on Thee." 

Solemn are the circumstances under which we have assembled; 
funeral occasions, the hour when we hang in doubt over the life 
of our friends, hardly more so. We are in deep trouble. Had 
the country been invaded by some foreign power determined to 
subjugate its population, and had we the entire resources of the 
united nation for our defense, we should even then feel that a 
great calamity had come upon us. But we are a divided peo- 
ple, not in arms against a foreign foe, but in arms against oux'selves, 
and every blow which is struck on either side, is a blow upon 
ourselves. All the property destroyed is our property, and the 
blood of slaughter so freely poured out is all our blood. Great 
successes are great disasters. Whether we conquer or are conquer- 
ed, the sufferings received and the sufferings imposed are within 
the limits of our own land. Civil war is upon us and no man's 
foresight can penetrate to its termination or comprehend its issues. 
We believe that the right is with us, but be we guilty or be we 
guiltless of this conflict, we are brought into perplexity and trouble 
by it. Property has already been consumed by millions — hun- 
dreds of families are in mourning because some loved brother or 
son has perished on the battle-field, or fallen into the hands of 
the enemy. The newsjiapers are read daily with trembling, in 
thousands of homes. Not only this, but in many parts of the land, 
the very foundations of government have been overturned, and a 
reign of terror taken its place. States are arrayed against states, 
and parts of states against parts of states, college classmates, lov- 



ing like brothers, against college classraates, families against fam- 
ilies, and in many instances a man's foes are those of his own house- 
hold. We had believed that treason and rebellion would soon be 
put down and loyalty and peace restored. But instead of great 
successes, we have met with destructive and mortifying disasters. 
The clouds, even to the hopeful, look black, and the land is agi- 
tated as by the shakings of an earthquake. 

Under these circumstances, we are called upon as a people pro- 
fessing belief in an overruling providence, to humble ourselves 
for our sins, and by prayer and fasting to seek the blessing of God 
on our arms and our nation. 

To perform this duty intelligently, it is important for us to un- 
derstand the position we occupy. Many of our secular papers 
furnish an article daily, on what they call "the situation,'' or the 
condition and prospects of the war. Using the term in a broader 
signification, I propose the situation religiously considered, as the 
subject of this discourse. I shall endeavor to ascertain and des- 
cribe briefly, some of our relations to God in this terrible conflict, 
that we may act with more confidence where we are right, and 
avoid those courses which challenge his judgments upon us, and 
fulfill the conditions of success. 

I begin with the proposition that war is sometimes lawful. I 
say some times, for none of us can justify wars of ambition, or 
wars of revenge or wars of plunder. But wars for self-defense, 
for national existence, for the punishment of conspiracy and trea- 
son, for putting down rebellion, for the support of government 
and the maintenance of God's justice in civil relations, come under 
a different category. Whether they are right or wrong, in the in- 
dividual case, must depend on circumstances, and particularly on 
the motives with which they are undertaken, and the measure of 
necessity which demands them. 

I only say that some wars are lawful ; For, first, the instinct of 
self-preservation proves it. This is a universal instinct, and always 
incites to resistance by violence, in cases of mortal attack, where 
there are no other means of escape, unless the baser instinct of fear 



predominates over it. Equally universal and powerful is the in- 
■stinct by which men defend the lives of their children and families. 
Now instinct is the voice of God. It may be perverted, but it al- 
ways has legitimate applications. If self-defense and defense of 
families, by the utmost use of force in extreme cases, is an original 
instinct, then its exercise is sometimes lawful, and what is lawful 
to the individual is lawful for a stronger reason to an organized 
aggregation of individuals or a nation. 

In the second place, the consequences of non-resistance show the 
lawfulness of war. This is not a world of angels, but of depraved 
men, and depraved men cannot bo controlled without fear. No 
nation, though itself inoffensive, could exi.st in our world unpro- 
tected by arms. How soon would it be overrun by predatory 
bands, plundered and destroyed. Nor in the present stag§ of civ- 
ilization could any people hold themselves together on principles 
of non-resistance. Ambition, avarice, sensual passion, revenge, 
would produce internal commotions ; and anarchy, wrong unre- 
dressed, destruction of public virtue and everything good, the na- 
tional life not excepted, would bo the consequence. The question 
is not whether the fact of war does not always involve the idea of 
a guilty cause somewhere, but simply whether one of the parties 
constrained to engage in the war, may not be innocent? And my 
argument for the affirmative is the consequences of national non- 
resistance. Annihilate the military powSr in Europe, and not one 
of its great nationalities could continue. Some may imagine that 
extensive police arrangements might take the place of armies. But 
a police to be efficient must be armed,and an armed police of power 
enough to put down a formidable rebellion, what is il virtually 
but an army ? and when it meets with strong resistance, and puts 
it down by force, what is this but war ? 

My third argument for the lawfulness of war, under some cir- 
cumstances, is derived from the sacred scriptures, The New Tes- 
tament nowhere prohibits, but sanctions it. True, Christ is the 
Prince of Peace, and when all the principles of his religion come to 
he carried out, there will be universal peace. It is true, also, that 



Christianity inculcates upon us the spirit of peace, the forgiveness 
of injuries, the duty of living peaceably with all, as far as possi- 
ble, in our personal relations, and in public affairs. But not a 
passage can be found which, even by implication, forbids a nation 
to sustain itself, when necessary, by armed force. Nor is there 
one which throws disparagement on the military profession. On 
the contrary, when the soldiers asked John the Baptist what they 
should do as preparatory to his baptism, his answer was not, "lay 
down your arms," but abstain from those vices to which soldiers 
are most addicted. Our Saviour wrought one of his first miracles 
in behalf of a Roman soldier whose great faith he commended, 
while he did not forbid him to be a soldier still. Paul, whose 
business it was to develop and apply the principles of religion 
which Christ had introduced, not only nowhere condemns the use 
of arms, but, especially in the case of civil government, sanctions 
it, insisting that the Roman Christians should obey the government, 
that government is ordained of God, that whoever resists it resists 
the ordinance of God and shall receive damnation, and, also, that 
government bears not the sword in vain, but is a minister of God, 
ail avenger to execute wrath on him that doeth evil. The sword 
to execute law, war to put down rebellion is here justified. Turn 
back to the Old Testament. Here, nothing is more certain than 
that God, as head of the Hebrew theocracy, sanctioned war. He 
ordained it, he required it, he planned its engagements, he often 
led the armies of Israel and secured their victories. It was by 
his express direction, as an awful duty imposed by Him, that the 
Israelites carried on those wars of extermination which destroyed 
the old pagans of Canaan. And in the civil wars of the Hebrews, 
once and again, the party in the right acted under his sanction. 
Indeed, in the Old Testament, God is made known as a "Man 
of Avar,'' "the God of battles," "Who is this king of glory ? the 
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." I am aware 
that some persons in our day, chiefly from a misunderstanding of 
it, hesitate to receive the principles of this Book. But if they 
have faith in Christianity, the argument now drawn from the Old 



Testament will still be conclusive. Christ had the Old Testament 
before liim. He was familiar with the record of its wars. He 
never denounced them, much less the character of Him who or- 
dained them. On the contrary, he accepted and adored the God 
of the Hebrews, and he gave their sacred writings his most unqual- 
ified ajriproval. But it is said that the spirit of the New Testament 
is against war. True, as already granted, it stands opposed to all 
those bad j^assions which originate the occasions of war. But when 
those bad passions exist on one side — when violence has been 
threatened and inflicted, the spirit as well as the precept of the 
New Testament places the sword in the hands of the rightful author- 
ities, and requires them to use it. God is benevolent, Christianity 
is a scheme of benevolence, but God is also just and an avenger, 
and Christianity was given to sustain justice as well as benevo- 
lence. Nor did it shock the spiritual sensibilities of an inspired 
apostle, in the very last revelations which he has given us of 
Christ, to set him forth as a warrior, clothed in blood-dyed gar- 
ments, at the head of the armies of Heaven, executing the righ- 
teous justice of God on the nations. 

It is an argument to the same conclusion, that the best men, 
in all generations, have been constrained, in some cases, to sanction 
war. Christian peace men, so called, have been often placed in 
circumstances where their peace principles could have no power 
over them. The fact is that sometimes unless you would allow the 
hand of violence to strike down the innocent and helpless; unless 
you would sacrifice everything that society values, freedom, truth 
and justice among the rest, you must fight. War becomes a ne- 
cessity. Necessity is the highest law, and the highest law is 
lawful. 

But more than the proposition, "war is sometimes lawful," re- 
quires us to prove, is true. To engage in it is sometimes a duty. 
We are called to it, as by a trumpet voice from Heaven. God 
calls men by his providence and His word, to defend the gov- 
ernment of their country, to protect the community, and its great 
interests, at the hazard of their lives, and by the utmost exertion 
2 



10 

of their arms. And lie who refuses, under such circumstances, 
to assist by his sympathy, by his voice, by his property, by the 
sacrifice of his life, if needed and demanded, is not only a coward 
or a traitor, but exposes himself to the curse of God. "Curse ye 
Meroz,"said the angel of the Lord, "curse ye bitterly the inhabitants 
thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the 
help of the Lord against the mighty." 

I have thus far said nothing of our own war, but have only 
reached the conclusion that war is sometimes lawful, and to en- 
gage in it is a duty. I now add that the war which we and our 
government are now carrying on against the rebellious states of 
the Union is a war of this character. But some one will begin to 
tell how it might have been avoided, and how much has been done 
by the free states to provoke it. But talk of this kind, even if 
we concede all that is here intended, is nothing to our present 
purpose. I maintain before the world, that the confederate states, 
so called, whatever jorovocation they may have had from the 
northern people or the northern states, had no excuse whatever for 
th-ir treachery and rebellion against the government of their 
country. They base their right on a fallacy. The principle of se- 
cession, at the will of the seceding party, is monstrously presump- 
tuous. It destroys the possibility of government. But this prin- 
ciple has been sufficiently exploded. It never can be sustained 
by argument ; if supported at all it must be by arms. But suppose 
that secession as an extreme measure, was a right, it could not 
be justified, without proper preceding measures, to secure mutual 
understanding and agreement. But secession in our case, is a 
secession of arbitrary violence, secession forced on the masses who 
are victims to it, secession without consultation with the govern- 
ment or the people, a secession which unites in itself conspiracy, 
treachery and armed rebellion. Until the government had com- 
mitted some act of oppression, until negotiation had been offered 
and rejected, there is no shadow of just excuse for treason against 
the nation. 



11 

What is the cause of this great rebellion. The immediate occa- 
sion of it may be one thing, the cause is another. The cause of 
this rebellion, on the part of the leaders, was unquestionably ambi- 
tion. It was the ambition of slave holding monocrats, and aristo- 
crats who desired to wield the government of the nation, for the 
extension and perpetuity of slavery, and by it as the basis of their 
civil polity, for personal and state aggrandizement, or for that of 
a section. The evidence is overwhelming that the slaveholding 
leaders had long since determined, that when they could no longer 
control the government, for the slaveholding interest, and for 
themselves, they would destroy it. When they saw, or thought 
they saw, that their influence was about to cease to be paramount, 
notwithstanding the government might still be impartially admin- 
istered, and they themselves be admitted to the enjoyment of more 
than their proportional share of its power and honors, by a series 
of underhand measures and violent acts, in utter disregard of their 
oaths of office, they rushed into rebellion. Virtually rejecting re- 
publican principles, practically denying the right of the people to 
rule, even in their own states, preferring to found a community 
based on slavery and controlled by an aristocracy, without the 
smallest regard to the interests of any section of the country but 
their own, they undertook to break down the national government 
to divide the public property according to their own judgment, or rather 
to seize everything within their grasp, and set up for themselves. It 
is not because they had been oppressed, not because the guarantees of 
the constitution had been violated, not because the most obnoxious 
laws, in their favor, had not been enforced, but because they feared 
that the slaveholding power, legislating for the slaveholding interest* 
could no longer predominate. A more causeless and wicked rebellion 
never rose, on a large scale, since God created man. 

But it is said, why not let them go ; the Northern States would be 
unspeakably better off without them ? There are reasons and they 
are imperious. In the first place the seceding states are in rebellion. 
The government which allows rebellion has ceased to be a govern- 



12 

ment. Conspiracy and treason must be punished, and rebellion put 
down before the question of peaceable separation can be considered. 
In the second place, considering the character of the Southern 
leaders, the nature of our population and the situation of our territory, 
any equitable division of the country is impossible. Look at Western 
Virginia, at Eastern Tennessee, at Kentucky and Missouri, look at 
slave-holding Maryland and the capital of the nation in the heart of 
it ; look at our slaveholding states and (jur free states resting on the 
banks of the same rivers, sustained by the same great arteries of com- 
merce, intertwined and interlocked everywhere with each other. You 
could no more agree upon a line nf p ■ cclul scp iration between them 
than you could between the \it:il rgan> of the human body. Will 
the South ever surrender INIaiy ■ nd and allow the capital to remain 
at Washington.' Will the North ■■ r ;ive up Maryland, a'ld allow 
the Ciipital to be removed? Or if she rapit l is retained, will Virginia 
allow the shores of the Potomac, on her side, to be possessed and 
fortified by a foreign powjr ? Will thj o d Union allow Arlington 
Ilights to be covered with hostile batteries which might pour their fiery 
bolts of war on the city of Washington any day in the year. Besides, 
suppose we were once separated, would the North ever consent again 
to return fugitive slaves ? Would the South ever allow the free states 
to harbor them? Could we, on this subject, go a year without fighting? 

Again, the North with her tariff, the South with her free trade and 
2500 miles of border territory between them, would there not be end- 
less collisions all along the line of separation, if not frontier war be- 
tween the sections continually ? At best, must not both parties keep 
great and dangerous and impoverishing standing armies and navies to 
watch and menace each other ? 

Still further, allow the principle of secession, as the " let them go" 
policy requires and where will you end? You introduce a disintegra- 
ting element which would dissolve the nation. If the South secede in 
mass and the right of secession is conceded, can any person who is 
intelligent suppose that the North, with its long narrow line of territory 
and diverse interests, will hold together ? Could you bind the Pacific 



13 

and Atlantic, separated as they are by rock-ribbed mountains, into 
a common nationality ? Could you prevent the great West and the 
great East, joined together by a strip of land scarcely wider than a 
strait between two seas from breaking apart ? Could you hold back 
the city of New York, with her free trade interests, from declaring 
her independence or confe<lerating with your enemies? No ! strike out 
one star by secession, and you admit a principle which destroys the 
constellation, and which might also rend any one of the individual orbs 
into chaos ! The idea of peaceable division, and a permanent peace to 
follow is a chimera and a madness ! Looking down the future, I see 
nothing before us on this principle, but an;irchy, despotism and des- 
truction. It is a deep, black gulf of horrors which has no soundings. 
But some counsel peace, on any terms. ''Peace, peace when there 
is no peace !" And what do you council ? You counsel the des- 
truction of the nation, the breaking of it into fragments, by the blows 
of traitors. You council years and years, and there is reason to fear 
centuries, of anarchy, (f onflicting states and populations, of degra- 
dation before the w rl 1, ol return in many parts of the country to 
barbarism. You rcfuns'jl the going down of liberty, on the western 
continent, and th') ec.ipso of that luminary all over the world. You 
counsel the overthrow lA institutions your fathers bled to establish. 
You advise to pit Ini brand of infamy, on the war of the revolution, 
for what we must not fight to preserve, our fathers should not have 
fought to obtain. You counsel that the crown of glory should be torn 
from the brow of Washington, and that the names of Hancock and 
Adams and Hamilton be handed on to posterity in disgrace. More 
than all this, you counsel the wrt^ck of the hopes of Christians, for 
how long will schools and colleges and churches flourish, when the na- 
tion has perished ? Against the outcry of Christendom, you counsel 
that human slavery shall be tolerated, extended, perpetuated admired 
in the land ; that the foreign slave-trade shall probably be resumed 
and enlarged ; that the shores of Africa shall be made the hunting 
ground of immortal men again ; and the ocean shall be burdened again 
with the old horrors of the middle passage. More personally you 
counsel the loss of self-respect, for every citizen of the North. You 



14 

counsel for us t^.e domineering insolence of successful traitors and 
rebels. You counsel that the bleaching bones of our unburied sons 
who fell on the fields of Manassas shall cry for redress in vain. You 
counsel for us the perpetual contempt of European monarchies and of 
mankind. You counsel a sense of shame in the heart of every sailor 
and traveler who looks up to the old flag in a foreign land, for pro- 
tection. And finally, you counsel that every man of us, conscious of 
cowardice and imbecility, shall go through the world in depression, and 
haste to hide our heads in dishonored graves ! Peace on any terms ? 
Peace on no terms, but those of justice, righteousness, liberty and a 
stable government for all. Peace, with sacred honor preserved, and 
the approval of God and our consciences, or war forever. 

Indeed, you can have no peace till you conquer or are conquered ; and 
you can have no honorable peace till j-ou command it, by your arms. 
The weakness which cries peace, protracts the war. The North 
prosecutes it with very little animosity. A few kind words from 
the real heart of the South, even now, would melt us. But 
you can never have their kind words till you have conquered their 
respect. Forbearance, kindness, justice are not enough. Forbearance 
alone looks to them like cowardice ; kindness, imbecility ; and for 
justice, in their present state of mind, they will give you no credit. 
A high and holy resentment is more appropriate. They must feel 
your power, — they must feel that the iron arms of government are 
around them, and that there is no escape from its grasp. Show them 
that you are brave, wise, irresistible, and not to be trifled with, and 
they will begin to honor you and appreciate your regard for peace. 

Is not tlie war, then, in Avliich we are engaged a lawful war ? 
Is it not a necessity ? Was it not forced upon us ? Do not provi- 
dential circumstances constrain us to it ? Has not the Almighty 
laid it down before us as an awful duty which He requires us to 
take up and perform? I can answer these questions in no way but 
in the affirmative. As distinctly as when the children of Israel 
went up and wept before the Lord and asked counsel of the Lord, 
saying, "Shall I go up to battle against the children of Benjamin, 
my brother ?" and the Lord said, "Go up against him," so distinctly 



15 

is He speaking to us. We must fight against our brethren ; blood 
must flow, and there must be wailing all over the land. You say 
and I say, in the anguish of our spirit, as in Jeremiah, "0 thou 
sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet ? Put up 
thyself into thy scabbard, rest and be still." But the same old 
answer comes back to us, "How can it be c|uiet seeing the Lord 
hath given it a charge against Askelon and against the sea-shore ? 
There hath he appointed it." 

But, in the third place, if Cfod demands this war at our hands, 
may we not expect assistance from Him and success ? 

God is a sovereign. He has His own inscrutable plans. They 
extend over the illimitable. They are worked on scales of immen- 
sity, and have infinite complications, and.it is only the smaller 
atoms of them that can be comj)rehended by us. "He giveth no 
account of His matters to His creatures." The presence-angels be- 
fore the throne unroll, by slow degrees, the awful Book of Predesti- 
nation, giving out events as they occur, and jDrovidential require- 
ments at the time they are to be obeyed, thus opening God's de- 
signs before us only as we ascend to their fulfilment along the pro- 
gressive steps of our lives and duties. Nor is the promise of suc- 
cess the foundation of obligation. We have our mission even when 
its results are not foreshadowed to us. Of this, however we may 
be certain, that God is righteous in all His works, alike in immen- 
sity and in His infinitesimal acts, and that in managing the several 
parts of His plan, whether they relate to nations, to sections or to 
individuals, He never violates the principles of justice, and that 
right conduct in men is not only certain to secure His favor, but is 
a strong indication that He intends to bless them. At the same 
time, it must be confessed that obedience to Him does not always 
result in what we call successes. The divine justice, and the su- 
preme ends of the divine action, often require that men and nations 
should be punished. Sometimes they are utterly destroyed for 
their incorrigibleness ; sometimes because repentance comes too 
late. Sometimes the bad passions of two hostile communities are 
turned against each other, in the exercise of righteous retribution 



16 

on them both. And very often those who have the right on their 
side are chastened and purified as a necessary preparation to suc- 
cess. 

Exactly what Grod intends as the future of this nation, no human 
prescience can divine. The cloud is black and impenetrable. Are 
we to be broken down for our sins, and our free institutions to be- 
come a hissing and a by-word over all the earth ? Are we to be 
useful only as one more of those terrible examples which are set up 
along the track of history for the warning of mankind ? or is there 
yet a great future before us, and is God leading us across the Red 
Sea of blood, that he may fit us, by suffering for prosperity ? How- 
ever these questions may be answered, it is manifest that God has 
laid down before us a terrible duty, and is saying as he said of 
old, '"cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood." Nor 
is it necessary that we should foresee the ends which he designs by 
the war before we make sacrifices in it. Nor can we say beforehand 
what courses of public policy shall be pursued. Governments, na- 
tions are often constrained to accept conditions and relations which 
they had no intention originally to adopt. Men do not control 
events so much as events control men. The duty of the hour must 
be done, though results are concealed, for there is a power behind 
the scene which directs the acts and secures the consummation. 

There are, however, conditions to be observed which are imjjor- 
tant to success, and render it hopeful. The first is the acknow- 
ledgment of God. If there be a supreme ruler, and his being is 
manifest, what can be more offensive to him than that his provi- 
dence should be ignored. As the head of the Hebrew nation, we 
all know with what utter abhorrence idolatry was regarded by 
Him. And can He look upon Atheism with any more compla- 
cency ? I say not that we are Atheists in form, but with the ex- 
ception of a portion of the people, and that comparatively a small 
portion, God is scarcely regarded by us, except it be in the dialect 
of profaneness. His providence is rarely acknowledged in our pol- 
itics. There is no place for Him in our policies. Our platforms 
leave Him out. His name is not mentioned or alluded to in our na- 



17 

tional constitution. From many of our public documents one 
could not gather a suspicion of His existence ; while in many for- 
mal proclamations He is recognized only in the most distant man- 
ner. I speak not of the state but of the nation. Very few of our 
politicians ever make the faintest allusion to Him "who is head 
over all things to the church," and scarcely to Him who is arbiter 
of nations, and without whom not a sparrow falleth to the ground. 
And can we expect to prosper ? God must deny His own perfec- 
tions or punish such a people. As a condition of success, then, we 
must acknowledge that "the most high ruleth in the kingdom of 
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." And I look upon it 
as hopeful, and as an indication that our reason is returning to us, 
that the country has demanded and the president has ordered the 
observance of this day of public fasting, humiliation and prayer, 
and still more that God has called to the immediate headship of our 
vast army a youthful Christian general, whose faith in j^i'fiyei' and 
whose regard for the sanctity of the Sabbath has inspired every 
Christian heart in the land with new confidence. 

But we must not only acknowledge the government of God 
over the nation, but the justice of his judgments upon us. Wars, 
though necessary, are scourges for sins. We have been a wicked 
people ; perhaps, considering our intelligence and our opportuni- 
ties for good, as wicked a nation as God ever tolerated. Our very 
intellio;ence has incited us to schemes of wickedness which a more 
ignorant people might not have thought of undertaking. Even in 
our sectional relations, many at the North have been utterly sel- 
fish and bitter, and irritating beyond endurance. Others have 
shown themselves willing to sacrifice everything but power and 
party to the Moloch of slavery, while most of us, in our matters 
of difference with the South, have been offensively self-righteous. 
And all together we have done much to bring ourselves into cir- 
cumstances which at length made Avar a necessity for us. 

Nor on the very subject which is the underlying cause of the 
war — that element of rottenness in the state — have we grounds for 
assumption. True, human slavery has perished at the North, but, 
3 



18 

humanly speaking, we are quite as much indebted for this result 
to the coldness of our climate and the hardness of our soil, as to 
the moral principle of our people. Had New England been avast 
river-bed, among whose miasmas white laborers could scarcely 
live, and the sweat of negroes was immensely profitable, lam not 
sure that the boasts of our freedom would have been heard among 
us to-day. We condemn southern manners and institutions, and 
regard with horror the threatened renewal of the African slave- 
trade. But has it not been carried on surreptitiously for years 
by northern commerce ? The black ships which have cleaved the 
main, freighted with groans, have been northern vessels, manned 
by northern seamen. Many of our northern politicians, for the sake 
of power and party, when they knew these facts have kept them out 
of view. And a little has shown what would have been done if 
the navy of England and the brand and perils of piracy had not 
stood in the way of this horrible traffic. For all these sins, and 
many more, the judgments of heaven have come upon us, and let 
us confess it. We have deserved war, deserved to be involved in 
complications which made war a necessity. I know not that 
God could have been an impartial governor of the nations, and not 
have sent this judgment upon us. Nor have we a right to expect 
success till we have accepted our punishment as deserved. 

As another condition of success, we must turn from boasting and 
self-confidence and trust in God. We boasted before the war, and 
have boasted all the way since, and, notwithstanding our pride has 
been so much humbled we are boasting still. The enemy were re- 
garded with contempt. They had no ships, no munitions of war, no 
means to support an army — scarcely any supplies for daily living ex- 
cept what they obtained from us. They were living over a volcano, 
and dare not stir lest it should burst and overwhelm them. We, on 
the other hand, were the invincibles, and had only to march and the 
enemy would run or be crushed under our feet. We had men, wealth, 
ships, courage, praying soldiers, the sympathy of all civilized nations, 
humanity, right, God, all on our side. Pf any foreign nation should 
interfere, we were ready to fight the whole world. We rushed head- 



19 

long into battle, dreaming of nothing but victory. Partly to accom- 
modate politicians, who wished to see the sport, the Sabbath seemed 
to be chosen as the grand gala-day of leisure, just adapted to the spec- 
tacle. Like an armed mob our improvident thousands rushed on, 
insufficiently officered, without provisions, without order, and 
though many of our troops fought bravely we were beaten, we were 
overwhelmed, and, excuse it as we may, suffered one of ihe greatest 
and most mortifying defeats recorded in the history of the world. We 
hung our heads for a few days, and then began to boast what we 
should do next time. Our boasting, self-confidence founded on self- 
conceit, made us ridiculous. Our vain-glorying excited the disgust of 
other nations, and when foreign writers took notice of it, proud and 
irascible, we threatened to launch all the thunderbolts in the heavens 
against them and the countries to whom they belonged. Except, per- 
haps a short time after the bombardment of Sumpter, unless there has 
been an improvement during some of the recent weeks, very little de- 
pendence on God was apparent. It is time this miserable self-suffi- 
ciency was ended. Boastings are not bullets, talk will not silence bat- 
teries. Let us cease glorifying ourselves, and go down on our knees 
before the Almighty. God, according to the laws of His providence, 
does not grant His great victories to a religiously professing people till 
they feel their dependence. So far as I recollect, in, all the wars of 
the Israelites, not a single permanent success was ever given to the 
self-dependent and boasting party, nor help ever withheld to those who 
trusted wholly in God. Even if you were to deny the inspiration of 
the Old Testament, and look upon it as only a secular record, the laws 
of moral cause and effect, as seen in the history of the Hebrew people 
and the great ancient nations, and, I might add, illustrated by the 
history of all ages, would seem to demonstrate that "pride goetli be- 
fore destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." The christian 
scriptures also teach that "he that exalteth himself shall be abased, and 
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted," and the Christian experi- 
ence of eighteen hundred years has accepted this principle as the law 
of God in his dealings both with nations and with individuals. Guided 
by the past, one might have anticipated the consequences of our self- 



20 

applauding onrush to Manassas. Indeed, many and many a Christian 
had been heard to say we never can be prospered till we have been 
humbled. 

As another condition of success, we must sustain the government. 
Of course we must, if the foregoing sentiments are correct. The gov- 
ernment as now officered, is the only power in the land which can 
carry on this war, and bring it to a successful close. The idea once 
and again darkly intimated that the times demand the rising up of 
some man who shall assume authority and lead on the people to con- 
quest, is monstrous. Horrors would follow in that line of action ; 
let no patriot dream of it We are already out at sea in the gale ; our 
destiny is bound up with the ship we are in, and it is the only one 
which can by any possibility carry us safe to the land. If it goes 
down, we all go down with it. But there is a higher reason why we 
should sustain the government. God requires it of us. The govern- 
ment — the existing government is his ordinance. The powers thit be 
are ordained of Him, and we are forbidden to resist the p wers. 
"Render unto Ceesar," said our Savior, hy which He meant the gov- 
ernment, "■ the things that are Caesars." And he wronghi a miracle 
to pay a tax of questionable justice simp y boc.iU>e the govprnment | 
imposed it. And of the infamous rulers which controlled the relig- 
ious affairs of Judea, He said to His disciples, '• The scribes and T'h r 
isees sit in Moses seat, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, 
that observe and do," only do not follow their examples. The scrip- 
ture doctrine is that government must be obeyed, whoever for the t'me 
being administers it, unless it be in those extraordinary cases which 
justify revolution, or those more extraordinary cases still, in which, 
like Daniel, the subject is required to deny or dishonor his Maker. But 
there is another reason why we, as a people, should sustain the gov- 
ernment. It is not the government of usurpers, despots, autocrats or 
monarchs ; it is our own government, the government of the people, 
and in the election of offic.rs, every man has his vote and his voice. 
No matter, then, whether we approve of its measures or not, we are 
bound not only by the authority which God has given it, but by our 
own self-love to sustain it. We must sustain it by bearing cheerfully 



21 

the burdens it imposes, making the pecuni; ry sacrifices which it 
r equires, volunteering to supply the means necessary for carrying 
on its operations, by responding heartily to its calls, by strenuous 
deeds and perils, and by words of earnestness and encouragement.! 
I have said, we must sustain the government, and I add, the gov- 
ernment must sustain and direct the people,* and the people must sus- 
tain each other. Union is power. Let parties be thrown overboard, 
at least for the emergency, and the whole save the State. We boast 
of patriotism. Now is the time to show it. A nation should know 
its times. Northern Freemen ! you have one of those opportunities, 
which come only after intervals of ages ; can you not rise to the 
greatness of it? Let the world see your magnanimity. Rulers, we 
look to you for an example. This is no time for " private griefs." 
Must the old quarrels of Achilles and Agamemnon, which sent so 
many brave souls of heroes into eternity, be forever repeated ? In 
the name of all the patriots in Heaven, and of all the nations de- 
siring freedom, and of countless millions of p )sterity, the world en- 
treats you to rise to the greatness of your opportunity, and let his- 
tory record your magnanimity and all th? generations of the future, 
point back to the American Patriots of 1861. 

t.\s a loiin is demaniled, ouLrht we not to accept its conditions ? If the gov- 
ernment stai ds, it will he a profitable investment ; if the ^-overnm^ nt goes down, 
what other |>roperty will ret lin its va'u' ■? But why do we speak of profit and 
loss. Shall we not hazirduur dolhu's to su-taiii a government, for which we 
h,i/,:ird the lives of our children ? 

* The author of this di-;cour-;e woulil he the last in :in to criticize the govern- 
ment unfavorably. He knows sometiiing of the immense labors it ha-; 
performed, and the prodigious difficulties which it had to overcome. At the same 
time he caimot for'near to say that the goveriunent should tell us emphatically what 
it wants, an<l should show us how to perform it. I( it wants men can there not be 
some arrangements in all our towns or counties, by mass meetings or otherwise, 
to stir up the people to furnish them ? If larger subscriptions to the national loan 
are desired, shouhl there not be conveniences in every village for taking it '; The 
thousands of small capitalists, in our country towns, cannot afl^ord the time and 
expense of I ravel and perplexity which the taking of fifty or a hundred dollars 
worth of the national scrip now costs thetn. And has not the time come when all 
the enrolled militia, at home, or a draft of one- tenth or more of them, should be 
put under efficient drill for any emergency which may require their services ? And 
might not most, if not all this work be accomplished by t le agency of patriotic and 
responsible citizens, without much expense to the govern nent, if a system could be 
adopted, and " the powers that he" would authorize it ? 



22 

As another condition of success, we must be in earnest, and mucli 
more than we are. The loyal states are not yet half awake. We 
trust in our unbounded resources, but fail to employ them. We have 
a great war on our hands, but we think there will be soldiers enough 
to fight it through, and some time or other our side will win. Mean- 
while, we talk hopefully of the revival of business, and prepare our- 
selves to renew the old competitions of covetousness. What many 
thus look upon as encouragement, to my mind is portentous. While 
the nation lies bleeding, we turn supinely away, and seek again for the 
loaves and fishes. Many of us seem to regard the whole conflict as 
something outside, which does not touch us in person, much less reach 
down into the depths of our souls. Meanwhile, time is passing on, 
and you make progress, in many respects, only backwards. Months 
have gone and still the capital of your nation is in danger. You have 
had your great uprisings and rushings to the scene of conflict, and still 
in almost every emergency, your army is outnumbered by the enemy. 
While the North is foolishly confident and inefficient, the South is ter- 
ribly in earnest. With them it is a life or death struggle. They leave 
all business, sacrifice or jeopardize all property, offer up their lives, 
stir the blood of all their people — and when they fight, they fight with 
the courage of despair. They are also unscrupulous, and full of strate- 
gems, and ready for desperate deeds. Such a rebellion, covering as it 
does, nearly half our territory, cannot be put down by country-mus- 
ters — or the froth and foam of a gala-day patriotism. You have a 
great and terrible work to do, and you must undertake it with terri- 
ble delermination. You must comprehend the crisis and meet it — of- 
ering your treasure, offering your blood, and what is more precious, 
the blood of your sons, yoa must take hold of this work with an aw- 
ful solemnity — and perform it. There must be no half-way measures. 
The heaviest blows are now the most merciful blows. If you would 
not protract this war for years, sacrifice thousands of lives and deso- 
late the land, you of the North should put forth the whole of your 
strength. Presume not on the frosts of winter, on the stringency of 
your blockade, on the great doings which are to come. So you have 
talked from the beginning, but your confidences have failed you. Scott 



23 

may be capable of infallible strategies— Banks may have comprehen- 
sive ability, and Butler dashing bravery, and you may admire the 
Christian wisdom and heroism of McClellan, but the great soul of the 
free North must be stirred down to its depths, or all these will fail. 

As the last condition of success, you must pray. While you work 
with all your might, you must pray with all your heart. Yr>u have 
seen enough of mere man's wisdom and man's power. You have 
planned, and on account of your pride and your sins, God has turned 
your councils into foolishness. He has sent faintness of heart into 
your hosts. Some of your most reliable leaders have been slain in 
battle, or have proved incompetent, and your soldiers have been cap- 
tured by thousands. And now if you would succeed you must pray. 
You Christians who believe in providence and in prayer, who believe 
that God is founder of the nation and superintends it, who hope tha*^. 
it may yet subserve the cause of humanity and Christ, pray. Study 
the war-prayers of the old Hebrew saints ; they are scattered thickly 
over the pages of the Old Testament, they are models of humility, de- 
pendence and faith, and always brought down the answer. Study the 
conditions of acceptable prevailing prayer as taught by your Saviour. 
Get access to the throne. Cry out, "nearer, my God to Thee, nearer 
to Thee ;" that coming close to your Father you may pray like a child. 
Men have subdued kingdoms, escaped the edge of the sword, waxed 
valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, and all through 
faith. Nor are God's mercies limited to ancient times. He heard 
your fathers, when they bought your free government for you, with 
their blood. He has loved this nation. It is the last, the youngest, 
the most hopeful which He has brought into being. Even now He 
stands in heaven's doorway bending down, desiring that you may pray 
for it. O brethren, pray for it. It is a season of awful solemnity. 
We are a spectacle to mankind. The life of your nation is in peril. 
It struggles for its breath. Should it expire, the whole earth would 
feel the shock. "Lord it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with 
many or them that have no power ; help us, O Lord, our God, for we 
rest on Thee. Amen." 



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